A Broad Abroad reports that some 2 million people live in impoverished villages and towns surrounding Kruger National Park in northeastern South Africa, where little running water flows and electricity is scarce. There’s also no social services provided by the government and people lucky enough to have jobs often bring home less than $100 per month.

Z is among those driven to defy the international ban on rhino de-horning — in place since 1977 — to survive. He said he usually works with a group of at least six or seven people, with each earning the equivalent of $1,100 per horn.

courtesy of A Broad Abroad

“Once we have shot the rhino, there is another team with guns and machetes,” he said. “And while the rhino is still kicking and fighting, we quickly cut the horn. Once that is done, we quickly run away. After removing the horn, we deliver it to our boss.”

The poacher said it’s unclear how much the horn ultimately is resold for, but he claims he has little choice in the matter, given the desperate economic conditions of the region.

“Life and death are the same,” he said. “There is no other option.”

Poachers killed 1,175 rhinos in South Africa last year, according to government figures — and more than 450 of the animals have been killed this far in 2016, A Broad Abroad reports.

Rhino poaching in the country has skyrocketed since 2008, putting the species on the brink of extinction due to a thriving black market primarily in China and Vietnam, where some believe it has medicinal purposes. No scientific evidence supports that claim.

Godknows Nare, a journalist from Zimbabwe who spent six months with poachers in the region, said he initially thought poachers were “cruel criminals.” But he acknowledges that extreme poverty will drive people to do what they need to to survive.

“An empty stomach doesn’t say anything, doesn’t think anything about death,” Nare told A Broad Abroad. “You just need to fill up your stomach, then you can think about other things.”

Martin Bornman, ground operation manager at Africa Conservation Experience, said poaching is driven “purely by need,” and has no end in sight, with limitless bodies ready to fill the hunting grounds.

Paula Froelich on patrol with the anti-poaching unit.courtesy of A Broad Abroad

“It’s not something that you would do out of choice,” he told A Broad Abroad. “And behind every potential poacher that’s coming in, there’s a million people waiting behind him to take his place if something does happen to him. So this is highly organized, it’s worth a huge amount of money and it’s organized crime.”

On Thursday, animal advocates worldwide, including Prince William, celebrated World Rhino Day, first announced by the World Wildlife Fund-South Africa in 2010. It has since grown into a global phenomenon and social media trend celebrating and raising awareness of all five species of the rhino: black, white, greater one-horned, Sumatran and Javan.

Prince William, while giving a speech about illegal wildlife trade of ivory from rhinos and elephants, said he’s not prepared to be part of the generation “that lets these iconic species” disappear.

“We will not know what we have lost until it is gone,” Prince William told the crowd at The Shard in London, according to the International Business Times.

Alleged rhino poachers who were caught by a team of anti-poachers.courtesy of A Broad Abroad

“Today is World Rhino Day — a species, that due to demand for its horn, is being killed at a rate of nearly three animals a day,” Prince William said. “Rhinos face extinction in our lifetimes, as we struggle to correct lies about the supposed benefits of using its horn as a drug.”

Meantime, the Associated Press reports that some animal advocates in Africa are de-horning rhinos with chainsaws before illegal poachers do.

An 8-year-old rhino named Vuyo was an unwilling participant earlier this week at the Gwahumbe Game Reserve in South Africa. The animal was blindfolded after being shot with a tranquilizer dart.

“So initially, we use a chainsaw to cut the horn off,” wildlife veterinarian Ryan Van Deventer told the Associated Press.

De-horning is a quick and painless process, experts told the Associated Press, similar to trimming a horse’s hoof. Van Deventer then ground down the stump after sawing off the animal’s horn to remove as much as possible. The rhino was given an injection a few minutes later to be revived.

“One has to try and minimize the appeal, the risk versus reward to the poachers,” he told the Associated Press.

In Zimbabwe, rhino horns are being removed before the poachers can get to them: